UC Irvine
Northern Iowa
UC Irvine Pushes No. 14 Northern Iowa to Five in Loss
September 03, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
NEWARK, Del. --- UC Irvine took a 2-1 set lead over 14th-ranked Northern Iowa but was unable to hold off the Panthers, falling 21-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-20, 15-8 Saturday at the Delaware Invitational.
Shaina Olsen paced the Anteaters (3-2) with a career-high 16 kills while hitting .308 (16-4-39) for the match and fell just shy of a double-double with nine digs. Shannon Fleming also notched a career-high, leading UCI at the net with eight blocks and matching a personal-best of 10 kills. Kristin Winkler picked up 23 digs for her second consecutive 20-dig match.
The Anteaters took the first significant lead of the set at 19-16 in the first set following an ace by Alexandra Hauser, forcing Northern Iowa (6-0) to use a timeout. A kill by Megan Lehman trimmed UCI's lead to two at 19-17 but Molly Yoder and Fleming responded with a pair of kills to widen the advantage to four at 21-17. Anteater setter Mary Carls found Acres for the kill, giving UCI set point and an attack error by NIU's Candice Burke would close the set.
The Panthers responded in the second set, pulling away from a one-point margin at 11-10 and claiming a 21-13 advantage by out-scoring UCI 10-3. NIU used a .375 hitting percentage in the set and Payton found Shelby Kintzel and Amy Braun on consecutive plays to close out the frame.
UCI's blocking game keyed the early lead for the Anteaters in set No. 3 as the duo of Pauline Acres and Fleming denied Krista DeGeest at the net. The pair then sent back an attempt by Megan Lehman and the Panthers committed an unforced error as UCI took a five-point lead at 13-8. NIU rallied with four straight to cut the lead to one at 14-13 but a pair of kills by Olsen extended the team's lead to three at 17-14. The see-saw battle continued as the Panthers used another four-point run to claim an 18-17 lead, forcing UCI to use its second timeout. Northern Iowa had the advantage after taking a 22-20 edge but kills from Olsen and Hauser would tie the set. The teams traded points and at 23-23, an error by NIU's Michelle Burow was followed by a put-away from Olsen to give the Anteaters the win.
The Panthers answered by jumping out to a 13-8 lead in the fourth set but UCI rallied to cut the lead to three at 16-13 on consecutive attack errors by NIU. Northern Iowa looked to establish control with a second five-point lead at 20-15 but the Anteaters again whittled down the deficit, this time coming to within two points at 20-18 as Acres supplied a block assist and then knocked down the assist from Carls. However the Anteaters were held off as the Panthers scored three straight to lead 23-18 and would force the fifth set on a kill by Kintzel.
NIU used a solid .500 hitting percentage in the final set as the Panthers out-scored UCI 5-1 to take an 8-4 lead at the side change. UCI was unable to break the four-point gap with the last coming at 12-8 following a bad set by Payton and Jenny Willms would record a service ace for the game-winning point.
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